15 Facts About 90s Video Games
The 90s were nuts for video games. You had all these big changes happening – new systems coming out, graphics getting better, and companies doing some pretty weird stuff.
It was like watching the whole gaming thing grow up in just ten years. Here’s a list of 15 facts about 90s video games that show just how crazy this time really was.
Sony Made PlayStation Because Nintendo Ditched Them
Nintendo basically made their worst enemy by mistake. They were working with Sony on some CD thing for the Super Nintendo, then just bailed on them in 1991.
Sony got mad enough to make their own system instead. The PlayStation ended up selling over 100 million units, so Nintendo probably kicked themselves over that one.
Doom Scared Everyone
When Doom came out in 1993, parents and politicians went crazy over how violent it was. There were actual meetings in Congress about it.
All that freaking out led to the game rating system we have now. The weird part is Doom looks pretty mild compared to games today.
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The N64 Controller Was Just Weird
That three-handed Nintendo 64 controller still looks strange today. Nintendo said you were supposed to hold different parts for different games, but most people just grabbed the middle and right parts and ignored the rest.
The left part might as well not have been there.
Street Fighter II Made Crazy Money
This game brought in over $2.3 billion just from arcade machines. That’s more than most movies made back then.
People would actually stand in line to play it, and arcades turned into these serious places where everyone was trying to do those special moves.
Game Boy Needed Tetris to Work
The Game Boy had a pretty basic black and white screen when other handhelds had color. But Tetris was so fun that nobody cared about the plain graphics.
That little puzzle game sold 35 million copies and made the Game Boy win for years.
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Final Fantasy VII Almost Killed Square
Square was almost out of money when they started making Final Fantasy VII. They spent $40 million on it, which was tons of money back then.
Lucky for them it worked – the game sold over 13 million copies and probably saved them.
Mortal Kombat’s Blood Started Console Wars
Sega kept the blood in Mortal Kombat while Nintendo turned it into gray sweat. Sega’s version had this code that brought back all the gore.
Kids definitely knew which one they wanted, and it helped Sega fight Nintendo for a while.
Wolfenstein 3D Started Everything
Before 1992, most computer games looked pretty flat. Wolfenstein 3D was the first game that actually felt like you were walking around in a real place.
It’s basically the grandpa of every first-person game we play now.
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Sega Saturn Had the Worst Launch
Sega tried to surprise everyone by putting out the Saturn four months early at a gaming show. The problem was, stores weren’t ready and didn’t have any to sell.
The surprise didn’t work and the Saturn never got better after that mess.
Super Mario 64 Changed How We Play Games
Before the N64, characters could only move in eight ways – up, down, left, right, and the corners. Super Mario 64’s stick let Mario move in any direction, which you need for 3D games.
Every controller since then does the same thing.
Lara Croft Became Famous
Lara Croft was the first video game person to get famous outside of games. She was on magazine covers, had her own stuff to buy, and was in commercials.
People acted like she was real, which was pretty strange but also kind of neat.
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CDs Let Games Get Way Bigger
PlayStation games came on CDs that could hold 650 megabytes of stuff. Nintendo 64 cartridges could only hold 64 megabytes at most.
That meant PlayStation games could have movie clips, better music, and way bigger worlds than Nintendo could do.
Sonic Was Made to Be Fast
Sega made Sonic just to be faster than Mario. The Genesis could move backgrounds really fast, so they built a character around that.
Sonic showed that platform games didn’t have to be slow and careful – sometimes going fast was better.
Quake Needed Special Computer Parts
Quake in 1996 had real 3D graphics that you could look at from anywhere. But your computer needed a special 3D card to run it, and those cost a lot.
That game basically started the whole graphics card business that companies like NVIDIA built on.
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Game Boy Color Almost Had Another Name
Nintendo was going to call it the Game Boy Plus before they picked Game Boy Color. The color screen was obviously the big new thing.
The strange part was that old Game Boy games would show up in different colors when you played them on the new one.
The Time That Made Modern Gaming
The 90s weren’t just about good games – they set up everything we use now. The controllers we hold, the 3D graphics in every game, even the rating systems all started back then.
Those ten years took gaming from something kids did at home to this huge business that makes more money than movies. Pretty wild to think that all the stuff we like about gaming today got figured out in one decade.
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